


if he moves (will he fall)

by endquestionmark



Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-19
Updated: 2012-05-19
Packaged: 2017-11-05 15:28:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 538
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/408019
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/endquestionmark/pseuds/endquestionmark
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Take off the suit, what are you?” Steve Rogers says, angry, close.  </p>
<p>“Genius billionaire playboy philanthropist,” he says, and it’s true, every word, even if he might have twisted the truth just a little.  But then that’s what he does, isn’t it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	if he moves (will he fall)

“Take off the suit, what are you?” Steve Rogers says, angry, close. Tony wants to reach out and steal his breath and make a weapon of it. After so long, after running so hard, he’s still an ironmonger at best, a war hawk, a blacksmith.

He makes a moue, shrugs a little, shakes it off. “Genius billionaire playboy philanthropist,” he says, and it’s true, every word, even if he might have twisted the truth just a little. But then that’s what he does, isn’t it. Genius, remember?

++

So Steve Rogers watches him. So what? He’s a self-professed narcissistic, conceited jackass who “doesn’t play well with others”.

So Steve Rogers watches him kick-start the engines on the helicarrier, calculate the force and the torque and the necessary velocity in his head, watches him predict Banner’s return, watches him figure out what to do with a nuclear strike heading straight for Manhattan. Steve watches him distract Loki, out-strategize a good percentage of an alien army, and then redesign his entire tower to fit a superhero team.

He has to concede the _genius_ , eventually. It would be rude not to.

++

_Billionaire_ doesn’t really need explaining, not when Tony builds Bruce a special lab and then a containment cell, when he sets up a helipad on the roof, when he pays for a third of the damage they’ve caused, and then takes them all out for lunch two weeks running.

That was always the easy one, though.

++

_Playboy_ happens when Steve forgets that Tony’s throwing a party on the top ten floors - ten floors, really, because one wasn’t enough for him - and walks in to find him dead drunk, trying to carve an arc reactor out of a watermelon, and eventually giving up and smashing it on the floor.

“I think you’ve had enough,” Steve says, and Tony nods a little gratefully and lets Steve break it up, drag him to the couch, drape a blanket over him.

++

It takes Steve far too long to find _philanthropist_ , all things considered.

He finally finds it when Tony winces after yet another alien attack, and explains it away by gesturing at his ribs. “Rebroke, I guess,” he says. “We really need to work on the cushioning, Jarvis.”

“You’re telling me you flew out with two broken ribs?” Steve says. “There was a lot of trauma, Tony! You could have punctured a lung!”

“Yeah, well,” Tony says, shrugging again. It isn’t a petulant, sarcastic gesture this time - it’s just that he really doesn’t mind. “You needed me, right? They did, anyway,” he says, motioning to the soot-streaked people being led out of the subway. “It doesn’t matter, I’m fine.”

And he snaps the mask down and salutes before walking away, taking off and fading.

Steve stares at the speck that is Tony in the bright blue sky, watches his contrail dissipate, and thinks maybe he’s been seeing _philanthropist_ all along. Maybe Tony Stark is wrong about himself, after all. _Genius billionaire playboy philanthropist_.

++

“You really are a good person,” Steve tells Tony.

Tony laughs a little. “You’re projecting,” he says. “You’ve been around me too long.”

There are things Tony misses, really, so Steve thinks that he’ll just keep on reminding him, just in case.


End file.
